The Universal Orlando Resort has sent us a press release announcing that The TODAY Cafe will open at Universal Studios Florida later this year! The new dining option replaces the former Beverly Hills Boulangerie at the entrance of the park.

The TODAY Cafe will soon make its way to Universal Orlando Resort’s neck of the woods. The cafe will bring together a highly-themed environment designed to feel like stepping onto the iconic TODAY show set along with specialty food and beverage options.

NBC’s TODAY informs, entertains, inspires and sets the agenda each morning for Americans. Now, guests of Universal Orlando will have the chance to start their day with America’s number-one morning show and be part of the Studio 1A experience every time they visit. Guests can step into the stage-lit set inspired by the show and catch up on top headlines from TODAY’s live broadcast, all while refueling for more theme park thrills.

The Universal Creative team behind world-class attractions and Universal’s award-winning culinary team are partnering closely with TODAY. The anchors of the show, Savannah Guthrie, Hoda Kotb, Al Roker, Carson Daly, Craig Melvin, Kathie Lee Gifford, Sheinelle Jones, Dylan Dreyer, Willie Geist and others, helped to inspire the one-of-a-kind experience that can only be found at Universal Studios Florida.

One of the standout features of the TODAY Cafe menu will be seasonal dishes inspired by co-anchor Al Roker’s favorite recipes. Every day menu options will include fresh, in-house baked pastries, salads, sandwiches and specialty, locally-roasted coffees including a unique blend made exclusively for the TODAY Cafe. Guests can grab items on-the-go, or enjoy their meal any time of the day at seating both inside and outside in an area designed to look like the TODAY Plaza.

The TODAY Cafe will offer specialty breakfast options like avocado toast and an organic acai bowl to New York-inspired sandwiches and salads. Top highlights include a new twist on a classic Italian sandwich piled high with porchetta, spicy capicola, provolone, roasted tomato, arugula, basil aioli on a crunchy baguette, and an Asian-inspired chicken salad that will combine baby arugula, cabbage, radicchio, shitake mushrooms, daikon sprouts, wasabi cashews and soy peanut vinaigrette. Additionally, in tribute to a long running tradition in Kathie Lee and Hoda's hour of TODAY, guests can enjoy wine and beer on tap with a delicious cheese platter for two.

The TODAY Cafe will be located at Universal Studios Florida, just inside the iconic arches and across the street from the Universal Studios Store – a prime location to grab breakfast, lunch or a snack before or after enjoying world-class attractions and entertainment throughout the day.

Universal Orlando’s culinary team continues to take dining experiences to the next level by creating highly-themed environments to tell unique stories through food. From award-winning restaurants to magnificently-themed eateries, there is something for every member of the family at one of the destination’s three theme parks, Universal CityWalk and resort hotels. For more information, visit http://www.UniversalOrlando.com.

Change the scheme, Alter the mood! Electrify the boys and girls if you would be so kind!

While I will miss the former Beverly Hills Boulangerie (as it is basically the driving force behind me starting a cheesecake business) the new offerings at this place seems to be top notch and I welcome it! Can't wait to try it.

"B&M will NEVER build a coaster over 300 ft..." until 2012"Cedar Fair will NEVER build a coaster taller than MF..." until 2015

Nrthwnd wrote:^ Um....weren't/aren't they all steel coasters? Otherwise, I do not understand the reference.

Only 3 B&M's have since been replaced within their original park. Iron Wolf was replaced with Goliath, Chang is being replaced by Kentucky Flyer (sorta), and Dueling Dragons is being replaced by the unnamed Harry Potter Intamin LSM coaster.

None of the other relocated or defunct B&M's have been replaced by another coaster.

Since Goliath and Kentucky Flyer are wood coasters, This makes Dueling Dragons the first B&M to be replaced by a steel coaster.

To be fair, it does sound like something out of a Harry Potter book. "Boys and girls, today we're going to meet one of the fiercest, most beautiful creatures in the world, the Intamin. Ready your wands and prepare to use the Reparo spell."

I have a suspicion that most guests who are visiting the parks for all the rides will just refer to it as ‘the motorcycle coaster’ or something along those lines and even most potter fans will probably say something along the lines of ‘The Hagrid ride’ or something similar.

I see hardcore theme park enthusiasts insisting on using its full name more than even Harry Potter fans actually.

(1) You cannot just buy admission to HHN right? It's a ticket to Universal Studios Florida (not IOA or Volano Bay) and then a separate fee?(2) Assume Friday and Saturday are busiest days, how do Sundays tend to be? Is it recommended to get an Express Pass on a Sunday assuming I want to see ~5 attractions?(3) Related to crowds, how well do they do with controlling the crowds in the scare experiences? I went to a similar Halloween attraction a few years back and it wasn't all that effective / enticing given they had so many people walking through at once. I obviously get the tradeoff that if fewer people go through the attractions at once, lines are longer.

I just saw Fantastic Beasts 2: crimes of Jonny Depp and it was ok... which is probably how I feel about most Harry Potter films but this one was more meh than most but I kind of realized, it's interesting this brand new ride isn't themed to this part of the franchise at all. Harry Potter isn't going anywhere, anytime soon but I find it interesting that even though this is movie 2 of 5 even this new ride is focused on a finished part of the franchise.

I mean when was the last time a park ignored a currently ongoing series for an old one. The original Star Wars is huge but Galaxy's Edge is focused on the sequel trilogy, it makes me wonder how much faith there is in the Fantastic Beasts series.

(1) You cannot just buy admission to HHN right? It's a ticket to Universal Studios Florida (not IOA or Volano Bay) and then a separate fee?(2) Assume Friday and Saturday are busiest days, how do Sundays tend to be? Is it recommended to get an Express Pass on a Sunday assuming I want to see ~5 attractions?(3) Related to crowds, how well do they do with controlling the crowds in the scare experiences? I went to a similar Halloween attraction a few years back and it wasn't all that effective / enticing given they had so many people walking through at once. I obviously get the tradeoff that if fewer people go through the attractions at once, lines are longer.

1) You can just get a ticket to HHN without a daytime ticket. The advantage to having a daytime ticket is you can stay in a "holding area" during the transition inside the park and get first dibs on some of the houses.

2) Honestly now a days any day is a busy day, but I'll let someone else speak to that. They have certain tickets that are good certain days and certain lengths of time for the locals and they flood the park any chance they have with their "season pass" of sorts. One ticket is good for unlimited visits the first few weeks, the other is good for unlimited visits certain days off the week. I haven't looked at this years options so this may have changed.

3) Unfortunately it's one big conga line, which really limits the scares. They don't let in small groups due to the sheer crowds and moving as many people as they can through at one time as possible.

Garet wrote:I have a suspicion that most guests who are visiting the parks for all the rides will just refer to it as ‘the motorcycle coaster’ or something along those lines and even most potter fans will probably say something along the lines of ‘The Hagrid ride’ or something similar.

I can corroborate this, most of the people I have overheard talking about those attractions casually have always referred to them as "Harry Potter World / Land" and "The Harry Potter Ride" and "The Gringotts Ride". Diagon Alley is the only attraction I consistently hear people refer to by name, for obvious reasons.

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